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I was looking at the table and read what you'd put: Arsenal look unstoppable.

I looked back at the table and thought, they've played 19, won 10, drawn 0, lost 0. How does that work out? Obviously it then clicked, but never the less I was quite confused for a bit.

Nearly another fail there HC I like the extra stats you get from the combined table, but totally understand that it can be a bit confusing if you're not used to seeing it!

Tough break with Arsenal playing very well but if anyone can overtake them then it's you

Tough fight with both Arsenal and United so far, but if you keep going like this the other teams tend to fall off.

You're only just behind them, so can do it.

Diagola looks class. Keep up the good work

Cheers! Arsenal are unbelievable this season; they're well on track for 100+ points and 100+ goals, unless they have a complete derailment. They're also out of the Champions League, which helps keeps their team fresh for all the league fixtures; a luxury that we don't have.

It's going to be extremely tough to overturn them, but as long as we keep in touching distance, we could, theoretically, overtake them on the final day of the season!

Not quite the blaze of glory I would have liked to go out in. However, it wasn't a bad effort from the lads, and at least it didn't end trophy-less; thank goodness for the Carling Cup!

Unfortunately for us, Arsenal were just too good, and if it hadn't been for us beating The Gunners on the final day of the season, they would have surpassed the 100 point mark for the season. Our record wasn't that bad, and in most season, 92 points would have been easily enough to secure the trophy; in fact, we even improved on the points tallies from our title winning seasons. It was just one of 'those' years, I suppose.

Once again, we were the bridesmaid of the Champions League, making it all the way to the final, only to be beaten by AC Milan. Unlike our previous defeat, where we were hard done by, and lost it on penalties, this was a well deserved loss. All of a sudden, completely out of the blue, I had players lacking in confidence, looking complacent and playing nervously; quite a lethal cocktail, and not what you want in the final of the biggest competition in Europe! Perhaps I over-egged our chance of victory, perhaps I got my team selection wrong, perhaps we bottled it. What I do know, is that I now have a record of two Champions League finals played, two Champions League finals lost. Not the best of ways to bring the curtain down on my Liverpool career.

I'm going to leave a great squad behind, with plenty of strength in depth, and with lots of young starlets waiting in the wings for their chance in the first team.

Pablo Marquina had an outstanding season, netting 36 times, and is definitely one of the key men at the club. Also held in high regard is the centre-back partnership of Juame Ferrer and Nicolás Hermosilla, who, once again, ensured we had the best defensive record in the league, with only 17 goals conceded. The midfield trio of William Segura, Roberto Poison and Pedro Correia all had solid seasons, ably assisted by the January signing of Kennedy Ojigwe, who joined us for £17m from Inter Milan. That being said, it was in midfield that we had the worst luck with injury, having 3/4 players missing at a time, regularly throughout the season.

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And that is that for my spell with Liverpool. I leave the club in much better shape than I found it in, and with a serious chance of contending for honours for at least the next five years. Of course, I just hope they appoint a decent replacement, and don't replace me with some nobody regen who will sell off their prized assets and leave all the best players to rot in the reserves.

In my time at Anfield I have won 2 Premier League titles, 1 Europa League, 1 Carling Cup, 1 European Super Cup and 2 Community Shields; although I only consider the back-to-back Premier League titles as significant achievements.

With a reputation of 'World Class', I'm now in a position where I could, hypothetically, walk into any club job around the globe. However, I feel that I have now 'done' England, so will be looking further afield. I will also be avoiding any of the European 'Powerhouses', as I don't want to disrupt any success that Liverpool may have in the near future.

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Like you said, not the blaze of glory that you wanted to go out in but nevertheless, you've created a fantasic legacy at Liverpool . Did you ever make it on to their favoured list?

So, the question is...where now? You've said probably not England...any country of preference?

As soon as we won the second league title, I then made it on to the Favoured Personnel. However, since leaving, I've now fallen off, which is a bit harsh!!

I've got a few countries on my radar; Turkey, Netherlands, Portugal and Ukraine are all European leagues that I'd like to have a bash at. However, they will have to wait, as I've just accepted a post slightly further afield!

You did very well at Liverpool and it's always good to finish above Utd.

Good luck wherever you end up next

Lets see which is the lucky club.

You did really well at Liverpool - I salute you.

Shame your final season wasn't what you wanted. Best of luck wherever you may go.

Done brilliantly with Liverpool Good luck with whoever you take over next.

Thanks! We finished above Man Utd in four of the five seasons I spent at Anfield, which was a pleasing accomplishment! Though our rivals still have a higher reputation (Man Utd - World Class, Liverpool - Continental), which is a tad annoying.

That news item should have read: The King Steps Down

Or is King Kenny still better?

LOL! King Kenny will always be better than me; I am not worthy of 'his' status (yet )!

Wow, Arsenal were a bit good. No wonder you couldn't surpass them when they are in such form and almost get 100 points. Overall a good period though, with two league titles and a Europa League trophy.

A great near 5 year spell at Liverpool, couldn't do anything about the title this year as Arsenal just looked unstoppable.

Looking forward to seeing where you end up next!

You're no Bill Shankley.

Outstanding home form from Arsenal.

Good luck wherever you go next!

Cheers! Arsenal were immense, but in a weird kinda way, I'm pleased that if Liverpool couldn't win the league, then I'm glad it was the Gooners, rather than MU, MC or Chelsea. Any team that wins 33 out of their 38 games deserves to win the title, so I'm gracious enough to realise the better team won. Hopefully my successor can put the team back on track next season.

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Yeah, that's one big ol' transfer budget. £5m a week for wages is pretty nifty too! It would have been far too easy though, and after a season or two of pure domination, I'm sure I would have got bored at Camp Nou.

rancer- although I wasn't specifically looking for a club outside Europe, the job I got offered (and accepted) interested me greatly. Details of which, to follow very soon!

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Yeah, that's one big ol' transfer budget. £5m a week for wages is pretty nifty too! It would have been far too easy though, and after a season or two of pure domination, I'm sure I would have got bored at Camp Nou.

rancer- although I wasn't specifically looking for a club outside Europe, the job I got offered (and accepted) interested me greatly. Details of which, to follow very soon!

That's very true, nothing like a challenge to keep you interested!

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Whether it's because I've spent the past five seasons with Liverpool, or the fact that I've had all thirteen seasons of my career based in England, but I feel that this career has yet to seriously take off. I haven't really ventured into the unknown yet, or played in a league with a different footballing culture; I've stuck very much to my footballing roots, so it's definitely time for a change of scenery.

Passport in hand, I touch down on the fair shores of Argentina. Fair shores I say, but knowing the history between the UK and Argentina, I can't be too sure that they are overly pleased to see an Englishman. That being said, I'm here for football management reasons only, so any prejudice between the two nations can be put to one side whilst I concentrate on restoring one of their oldest clubs to it's former glory.

The club I've chosen has quite an chequered history, and this is the main reason for why I decided to accept the terms of the contract offered to me. They also play in red, and I certainly have a penchant for teams that play in red, so that helped sway me too!

So more about the club itself; League Champions five times in their history, the first being back in 1967, when they were the first club outside the 'big five' to win the title, with the most recent being in 2010. They've also won the Copa Libertadores four times, including an unprecedented three consecutive times between the years of 1968 and 1970. This period was overseen by, arguably, their greatest manager, Osvaldo Zubeldía, who not only transformed the club into winners, but also revolutionised coaching techniques into what we know today. Zubeldía was one of the initial coaches to incorporate set-piece drills and the offside trap into their training regime, as well as thoroughly researching rival team's tactics and playing styles. In addition to this, he hired former referees to inform the team on how to bend the rules of the game, exploiting every possible loophole. This turned the club into world beaters, and one of the most successful teams in Argentine football history, although he was not without his critics. He was often condemned for his use of timewasting and tactical fouls, to frustrate and break down opponents advances, and also oversaw violent intercontinental matches against Man Utd (1968) and AC Milan (1969), where after the latter match, the whole team was arrested on orders from the Argentine President. Due to these events, Zubeldía's style of football was come to be known as el antifúbol (the anti-football), and his team labelled as 'one of the most despicable to emerge from South America'.

One of the stars to emerge from Zubeldía's team was the anchor of their midfield, Carlos Bilardo, who became the on-field tactician under that regime before eventually taken over the management of the club in 1971. Bilardo would go on to manage the club on four separate occasions between the years of 1971 and 2004, but will be most well known for being the national team coach of the World Cup winning Argentina side of 1986. A feat that they very nearly repeated four years later in Italia '90.

Bilardo is just one of many greats to have played for the club, having counted Juan Sebastián Verón, his father, Juan Ramón, Martín Palermo, Luciano Galletti, Mariano Pavone and Mauro Boselli amongst the list of illustrious players to don the famous red and white stripe shirts.

So let me introduce you to Los Pincharratas (the rat stabbers), a nickname that is thought to have derived from the 1910s nickname of a trader who spent much time chasing rats round the local market, my new club Estudiantes de La Plata.

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Thanks for the comments; really looking forward to having a new club in a new continent. Should be an interesting challenge!

Estudiantes: My Arrival in Argentina

I haven't played in Argentina for a while, probably not since managing Boca Juniors back on FM05, so I need to get reacquainted to the domestic season schedule, and how continental qualification works etc.

Argentina Primera División - Contested by twenty clubs, on a round-robin basis, the season runs from August to May of the following, with each season split into two tournaments, the Apertura (opening stage) and Clausura (closing stage), both crowning its own champion. Relegation is based on a averaging system, with the two teams with the worst three-year point average being relegated, and the best two teams from the Primera B Nacional getting promoted. Teams in 17th/18th contest a two-legged playoff with the teams finishing 4th/3rd in the division below, with the team winning the tie securing a place in next season's Primera División.

Looking at the past winners of this competition, it's clear that Boca, River, Vélez and Independiente are the teams that have had the most success recently. However, it certainly isn't an exclusive member's only club, as, encouragingly, smaller teams such as Tigre and Lanús have been able to lift the trophy in previous seasons.

Unfortunately, Estudiantes have not been able to get anywhere near lifting the Apertura and Clausera trophies since 2012 when they finished second twice. In fact, since then, it's pretty apparent that they've been nothing more than a solid mid-table team who have suffered occasional blips, every now and again.

Copa Argentina - This tournament is contested by 186 teams from seven divisions of the Argentine League structure in a knock-out system competition. All Primera División teams enter in the Fifth Round. The winners of the trophy automatically qualify for the Copa Sudamericana.

Copa Libertadores - Four teams qualify for the Group Stages of South America's premier tournament, with a further team qualifying for the Preliminary Round. These teams include the Apertura and Clausura champions, as well as the three teams with the most combined points from these tournaments.

Copa Sudamericana - Six teams qualify for this continental tournament, usually consisting of the Copa Argentina winners and the five best teams from the league competitions.

We may not be the richest club in Argentina, but financially, everything here is in a reasonable state; there's money in the bank and only £2.8m worth of debt to be repaid. The chairman's also given me a small amount of money to play with, so if there is an opportunity to bring in some new faces, I do have some resource to do so.

The stadium and facilities all look good enough for now, although we will need to improve our youth set-up somewhat if we are going to make the most of the young Argentinians coming through our youth set-up.

From a brief look at the playing staff, it appears we've got a pretty decent squad with plenty of youngsters coming through. Unfortunately, in the past, Estudiantes has become somewhat of a 'selling' club, so I'm sure it will be difficult to keep players long term unless we see a dramatic change in fortunes on the pitch.

Initially, I'll be looking to get together a set of coherent tactics, with 4-4-2 being the most likely of formations to be used in the opening matches. I anticipate Argentinian football to be gritty, competitive, and downright dirty at times, so they'll be no place in my team for shrinking violets; the players will need to show fight and determination, as well as being able to stick the boot in too, when needed.

The media predict us to finish 9th, which I think is a fair expectation considering the length of time the club has gone without a trophy. I'm pretty confident that we're not in any danger of relegation, but still quite a way off challenging at the top of the league, so a strong mid-table finish is the most likely of results this season.

Long term, I want to return this club to it's glory days, aiming to win a league title within five seasons, as well as contending for honours in the continental tournaments. Having two bites of the cherry every year is certainly a huge advantage, so if we can maintain a strong level of performance for a three/four month period, it's likely that we can win some silverware fairly quickly. However, for the foreseeable future, I'll just be looking to establish the club as a top six side, focusing on nurturing the talent currently at the club, and building for the future.

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See the stadium was built in 2014. Is this something that is ongoing in real life, or something the game has pulled off so soon?

Looks a very strong team based on the star ratings, but I'm sure you'll want to make it "yours" over time. Good luck down there.

Cheers! Actually the stadium pic is an artist impression of the newly-renovated Estadio Jorge Luis Hirschi (Estudiantes' current real-life ground), but as it's capacity is about the same of the originally-titled Estudiantes Stadium, I'd thought I'd still post it to give an idea of what the new stadium might look like! When I did my research on the club, I couldn't find anything to suggest that a new stadium is being planned in real life, so it looks like something that has been generated by the game. That said, a two year turnaround is pretty speedy work!

Going forward, the style and format of my updates will be a bit more fluid, and include a bit more narrative than before. I think it's all been a bit too regimental so far, sticking to a regular format on every post, and will be looking to do something slightly more original to freshen things up a bit. New club, new approach, and all that!

There's four games to go, and theoretically, any one of four teams can still win the group, but whether it's us, Slovakia, Spain or Switzerland, is anyone's guess. Thankfully for us, we've played most of our tricky away matches, with only a trip to Switzerland left to go. Unfortunately, our form on the road hasn't been particularly special, having only won in the Faroes Islands, so we can't expect to take too much away from the game with the Swiss; I'd be more than satisfied with a point.

Our next two fixtures are at home to Spain and Slovakia, and six points from these games would be enough to put us top and establish us as favourites for qualification. However, considering the close nature of the group, qualification is likely to go right to the wire, and I would be foolish to take anything for granted from the forthcoming fixtures. That said, the ball is firmly in our court; win all four matches, and we'll win the group. Anything less, and it's in the hands of the gods, and we might need to settle for a playoff place, or even worse, finish outside of the top two.

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Cheers. I suspected it was an FM-affair due to the stadium name. Unusual to build a new one so soon after game start.

Very close qualifying there, I hope the draw away to Northern Ireland won't bite you in the bum. Spain and Slovakia at home will be crucial. Win those and you should be set. Good luck.

Wow, exciting group.

Someone's been watching Ray Wilkins

Looking tight in your World Cup Qualifying group but considering you've got your tricky away games out of the way, you should in theory be favourites to qualify now.

Close group, good luck

Ooh. Good luck with Estudiantes!

Thanks chaps! I'm pretty certain World Cup qualifying will go right down to the last round of matches, and it certainly will be very close. The main positive for me is that our destiny is in our own hands; win all of our matches and we qualify. I'd much rather have this pressure, rather than be sitting third and having rely on the teams above us to drop points.

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I love Argentinian football! Well who wouldn't when you've got tackles flying in left, right and centre, flares being set off by fans in the crowd, and scorelines such as this!

After just over five months in the job, I'm already starting to feel right at home with Estudiantes, even though we're still very much in the early stages of a transitional period at the club. Naturally, we've had a backroom reshuffle almost immediately, with a new assistant manager, and a handful of scouts, all joining me on the payroll. Unfortunately, we're currently unable to scout outside South America, so it's taken a while to identify potential signings and put together some kind of shortlist. Thankfully, the new scouts have brought some extra knowledge with them to the club, which has been extremely beneficial, and I've also been able to trial several unattached foreigners. This has led to me being able to agree terms with four new signings, who will all join us in January, as I start to mark my stamp on the playing squad.

I couldn't have asked for a better start from my opening 19 games at the club. We've been playing a pretty basic 4-4-2 system, but the results have been extraordinary, and have led to headlines such as this! I'm really not known for my cavalier style, so it's come as a huge surprise to be involved in high scoring games on a regular basis. As entertaining as this has been, I've quickly come to realise that we need to be a lot less flaky defensively, and be able to shut up shop when defending a lead. Recently, due to this, match preparation has been changed to 'defensive positioning', and a few more clean sheets have been forthcoming. Unfortunately, our swashbuckling style of play has been tamed somewhat, and we're no longer averaging as many goals per game as we were previously. Still, we're winning more often than not, and that's what really matters; if we score four goals every game, then that's a nice bonus for the fans!

The fourth place finish in the Apertura is the highest the club has finished since 2012, so it really is a great start to my tenure at the club. And, if I've done my sums correctly, I do believe we've qualified for the 2026 Copa Libertadores; I'm not a 100% certain though, as I'm still getting my head around the systems here! If we have, we can look forward to playing in South America's top club competition come January/February time, as well as a Copa Argentina 6th Round tie against lower-league team, Acassuso. I'm also hoping we can replicate our league form in the Clausura, where I'll be aiming for another top six finish. In fact, if we can match 41 points again, we may do something completely unexpected, and challenge for the title!

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As close as it looked a couple of months ago, we actually qualified reasonably comfortably in the end. Having destiny in our own hands was a huge advantage, so by winning all four of our remaining matches, we ensured qualification for Mexico 2026 as group winners.

There's been some pretty special performances along the way, with the best being a dominant 3-0 win over Spain in Istanbul. This result really put us in the driving seat, and by following this up with a victory against Slovakia four days later, it meant we only had to avoid defeat against the Swiss in the final game.

Qualifying from such a tricky group has rejuvenated my hope for a successful performance at the World Cup tournament itself, and I certainly don't expect to see a repeat of the fiasco from the previous European Championship Finals. I really think this team has star quality, and should be aiming for a quarter final finish at worst. Players such as Cem Özbag, Olcay Yilmaz and Mert Asik have all been terrific for us recently, and as they are now playing at the peak of their careers, it's now or never if they are going to show the rest of the world what they're capable of. Unfortunately for them, if they fail on the biggest stage again, it's unlikely that they'll get to play in another World Cup as they'll be well into their 30's in four year's time.